Wednesday Wiggler ~ Green Dock Beetles

I’ve chosen this little green beetle as a Wednesday Wiggler because our garden is now full of them.

I’ve tried to find and hunt out information on them over the past couple of days so that I can decide if I need to worry about these little bugs eating our veggies.

They’re a metallic green, about 4mm long with the women slightly longer at about 7mm. The female also has a swollen black abdomen prior to egg laying during the mating season which lasts from March to October.

She lays clusters of tiny yellow eggs on the underside of dock leaves, laying up to 1,200 eggs in two to four broods a year.

The adult’s life span is only a couple of months but they can hibernate over winter.

As their name suggests Green Dock Beetles feed almost exclusively on dock and sorrel but if these are not available to them or are in short supply they will eat from the cabbage family (Brassicaceae) as well as the borage, violet and buckwheat families. These choices would not be high on their menu though as their larvae will not fully develop if they feed on these plants.

So it would seem that we have a perfectly good reason for NOT ridding ourselves of all the docks in our garden and may have to forget about growing sorrel.

There does seem to be an alarming amount of eggs but as long as the beetles have a good supply of their favourite leaves (and I can attest that there are plenty spreading their seeds in the fields around us too) in theory we needn’t be overly bothered by green dock beetles.

This is a great example of why we should encourage all types of wildlife into our gardens to prevent a build up of any one type of insect. The green dock beetle’s natural predators are insectivores (such as birds and frogs) and parasites.

By regularly feeding birds, planting hedges, building ponds and not keeping our gardens overly tidy we can encourage a diverse range of wildlife and create a natural balance.

If you have a smaller suburban garden you may be thinking that’s all so very well but not feasible. I suspect however, that the little green beetle may be more rampant in a rural garden due to the abundance of food sources in the countryside.

Just found of loads of these mating today in the field across the road, where there are loads of docks. Enjoying watching them scrabble around inside the see-through box I have for them – they are great escape artists!
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Who is Behind Greenside Up

Hi, my name is Dee Sewell, social and therapeutic horticulturalist, owner/manager of Greenside Up, community and vegetable garden tutor and author of this blog.
I began blogging back in 2009 when I started my Carlow/Kilkenny garden business and as a result the blog is now full of tips, tales, talk and tasty treats about Ireland, gardening, recipes, the environment, family life and community.
If you want to find more about how we came to live in Ireland and what we do, take a look in the About page or Contact me about how I can help you grow your own food.

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School of Food, Herbs & Salad Workshop

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